There is a rumor about 3.0 playing nicer with other devices. I couldn't get my wife's old phone to sync contact with her iPhone since the iPhone doesn't do file tranfer. One way they could improve would be to update bluetooth capabilities. They imply meeting what a Pre can do, and since a Pre is Palm, you could expect great bluetooth support for external keyboards and data sync. Both the iPhone and Touch have bluetooth chips in them that could improve with a firmware update. Just a Theory.

I think u might be on to somethin with the palm related stuff I seem a video of two guys chattin about the new update and one of them said they know someone on the inside (apparently) and that 3.0 will bring the iPhone upto speed with palm 3 so you never know they may implament stuff for 2nd gen bluetooth aswell

sjleworthy: they may have someone demoing the new 3.0 firmware, but this will just be a release of the SDK to match 3.0 for developers. Personally I could see them holding off on 3.0 till iPhone 3rd gen is released.

ottawaapplefan: it's all guessworks and rumours at the min, I have read somewhere they are going to allow mms support in the iPhone firmware and copy and paste is being added......... again these are rumours I have read on the net, we wont know anything for definate till apple announce it.

I'm guessing it will be free for iphone users, and a $10-$20 fee for touch users.

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"Free for iPhone users" is a common misconception. They pay too. However, instead of iTunes asking for the money, it makes up part of the iPhone user's monthly bill. They've paid for software all along, just in a different way to iPod touch owners.

"Free for iPhone users" is a common misconception. They pay too. However, instead of iTunes asking for the money, it makes up part of the iPhone user's monthly bill. They've paid for software all along, just in a different way to iPod touch owners.

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That was literally true for 1st-generation iPhone users - a cut of every month's bill from the phone company was actually forwarded to Apple Inc.

It is no longer literally true with the iPhone 3G. The only money Apple receives per iPhone 3G is the money that the phone company pays to Apple at the instant of purchase. (Remember that Apple actually gets much more money per iPhone than the customer pays up-front; the rest comes in the form of a carrier subsidy.) Apple is now using creative accounting techniques to stretch that one-time payment out over a number of years to comply with GAAP for delivering new features to products that have already been sold.

The iPhone is different from the iPod and Sarbanes-Oxley makes it so that iPod Touch users have to pay for major software upgrades, like people with computers...

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Translation: (my elaborations are emphasized)

The way in which Apple chooses to account for revenue generated from iPhone sales is different from the way in which Apple chooses to account for revenue generated from iPod sales, despite the fact that the physical flow of money is largely identical. Sarbanes-Oxley makes it so that new features cannot be added to products that are accounted for the way the iPod touch is, unless new revenue is collected to pay for the feature upgrade.

Apple uses creative accounting practises as a loophole to prevent Sarbanes-Oxley from applying to the iPhone. Those very same creative accounting practises could theoretically have applied to the iPod touch as well, but for reasons unknown to anybody outside of the company, Apple has chosen not to do so.

The way in which Apple chooses to account for revenue generated from iPhone sales is different from the way in which Apple chooses to account for revenue generated from iPod sales, despite the fact that the physical flow of money is largely identical. Sarbanes-Oxley makes it so that new features cannot be added to products that are accounted for the way the iPod touch is, unless new revenue is collected to pay for the feature upgrade.

Apple uses creative accounting practises as a loophole to prevent Sarbanes-Oxley from applying to the iPhone. Those very same creative accounting practises could theoretically have applied to the iPod touch as well, but for reasons unknown to anybody outside of the company, Apple has chosen not to do so.

It has more supporting points leading to its conclusion than your explanation.

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Apple has chosen not to do so - have you seen the SOX paperwork?

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Apple receives its real revenue for the iPhone 3G up-front, just like it does for the iPod touch. Unlike with the first generation iPhone, there is no ongoing revenue sharing agreement. The carriers have confirmed that in the public record.

However, Apple gives away feature upgrades for the iPhone 3G for free, but charges for the same upgrades in the iPod touch.

If SOX is truly responsible for the fees that Apple charges for iPod touch feature upgrades, then it logically follows that it would also bind Apple to charge for its equivalent upgrades for the iPhone 3G, if it weren't for some difference in the way Apple reports its iPhone 3G-related income.

Since the flow of real dollars is identical between the two devices, it doesn't take much of a leap to reach the conclusion that whatever they did for the iPone 3G could have been done with the iPod touch. Clearly, for undisclosed reasons, Apple chose not to do so.

It's not so much creative accounting as just the matching principle, which is a foundational element of GAAP. Apple incurs costs in supporting the iPhone throughout its useful life, including the provision of major updates at no additional cost to the user, and revenues are supposed to be recognized when they're earned so as to put them in the same period as associated expenses, allowing for a more accurate view of net income. This is also why inventory acquisition expenditures are debited to an inventory asset account until the goods are sold, at which point they are expensed.

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